Summary

Multiple vulnerabilities exist in the Cisco Network Building Mediator
(NBM) products. These vulnerabilities also affect the legacy Richards-Zeta
Mediator products. This security advisory outlines details of the following
vulnerabilities:

Default credentials

Privilege escalation

Unauthorized information interception

Unauthorized information access

Cisco has released software updates that address these vulnerabilities. Workarounds that mitigate some of the listed vulnerabilities
are available.

Affected Products

These vulnerabilities affect the legacy Richards-Zeta Mediator 2500
product and Cisco Network Building Mediator NBM-2400 and NBM-4800 models. All
Mediator Framework software releases prior to 3.1.1 are affected by all
vulnerabilities listed in this security advisory.

This table provides information about affected software
releases:

Cisco Bug ID

Affects Software Releases

CSCtb83495

1.5.1, 2.2, 3.0.8

CSCtb83607

2.2, 3.0.8

CSCtb83618

1.5.1, 2.2, 3.0.8

CSCtb83631

1.5.1, 2.2, 3.0.8

CSCtb83505

1.5.1, 2.2, 3.0.8

CSCtb83512

1.5.1, 2.2, 3.0.8

Vulnerable Products

Users can determine the version of the Mediator Framework running on a
device by logging into the device. After a successful login, the device will
display the version of Mediator Framework running on the device.

The following example identifies a Cisco Network Building Mediator that
is running Mediator Framework version 3.1.1:

Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable

No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by these
vulnerabilities.

Details

The Cisco Network Building Mediator is a platform that transforms the
way buildings are designed, operated, and experienced.

Cisco Network Building Mediator collects data from sources that include
the building, IT, energy supply, and energy demand systems, which use different
protocols that are otherwise unable to communicate with one another. The Cisco
Network Building Mediator normalizes the data into a common data
representation. This ability enables the Cisco Network Building Mediator to
perform any-to-any protocol translation and to provide information to the end
user in a uniform presentation.

This security advisory describes multiple distinct vulnerabilities in
the legacy Richards-Zeta Mediator and the Cisco Network Building Mediator.
These vulnerabilities are independent of each other.

Default credentials

Default credentials are assigned for several predefined user accounts
on the device including the administrative user account. Any user with network
access to the device can log in as an administrator and take complete control
over the vulnerable device.

Privilege escalation

Vulnerabilities in this category enable unauthorized users to read and
modify device configuration. A malicious user must authenticate as an existing
user but does not need to have administrator privileges or know administrator
credentials to modify device configuration. Both vulnerabilities can be
exploited over either transport protocol (HTTP or HTTPS).

Additionally, the vulnerability described by Cisco Bug ID
CSCtb83618
(registered customers only)
can be used to reload the vulnerable
device. Repeated exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to a prolonged
denial of service (DoS) condition.

CSCtb83607
(registered customers only)
has been assigned the CVE identifier
CVE-2010-0596.
This vulnerability could enable any user to read and modify device
configuration.

CSCtb83618
(registered customers only)
has been assigned the CVE identifier
CVE-2010-0597.
This vulnerability could enable any user to read and modify device
configuration using XML RPC protocol. Additionally, this vulnerability can be
exploited to reload the affected device.

Unauthorized information interception

The following vulnerabilities reflect the fact that sessions between an
operator workstation and the Cisco Network Building Mediator are not protected
against unauthorized interception. A malicious user able to intercept the
sessions could learn any credentials used during intercepted sessions (for
administrators and non-administrators alike) and could subsequently take full
control of the device.

CSCtb83631
(registered customers only)
has been assigned CVE identifier
CVE-2010-0598.
This vulnerability could allow a malicious user intercepting an HTTP
session to access to Administrator credentials.

Unauthorized information access

A malicious user could read one of the system configuration files. This
configuration file contains user accounts details, including passwords.
Authentication is not required to read this configuration file and an attacker
could perform this attack over either XML RPC or XML RPC over HTTPS
protocol.

Privilege escalation

Unauthorized information interception

The following workaround is applicable only to the vulnerability
related to HTTP protocol. There is no workaround for the vulnerability that
affects XML RPC service.

The workaround for this vulnerability is to disable HTTP service and
use HTTPS instead. The HTTPS service is enabled and running by default and no
further actions are needed to enable it. The HTTP service can be disabled with
configTOOL. The configTOOL is the software running on the operator workstation
and is used to configure the Multi-Protocol Exchange of the Cisco Network
Building Mediator.

After applying this workaround to software releases 1.5.1 and 2.2,
configTOOL version 3.1.0b1 is required to continue configuring Cisco Network
Building Mediator via configTOOL.

To start configTOOL, double-click the Cisco Network Building
Mediator configTOOL shortcut icon on the desktop, or choose
Start > All Programs > Network Building Mediator
configTOOL. Connect to a Cisco Network Building Mediator using the
procedure as described in Cisco Network Building Mediator User
Guide at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/physical_security/cnbm/User/guide/CNBM__UG.pdf,
section 3-2 Connecting to the Cisco Network Building Mediator Using
configTOOL. Inside the Node tree pane, expand
theservices tab, and then expand tab the
network tab. Click the http_server tab, and
then click the Enabled to uncheck it.

Unauthorized information access

There is no workaround for this vulnerability.

Mitigation

The following mitigation can reduce risk from unauthorized access to
the Cisco Network Building Mediator and minimize the risks associated with the
vulnerabilities described in this advisory. This mitigation is not effective
against unauthorized information interception vulnerabilities as exploitation
of these vulnerabilities do not depend on accessing the device itself, but on
intercepting session between an operator console and the Cisco Network Building
Mediator.

Administrators are advised to be selective when choosing the devices
that are allowed to establish connections to the Cisco Network Building
Mediator. The following rules will allow only legitimate operator console(s) to
establish sessions to the Cisco Network Building Mediator. To execute following
commands you must have Administrator privileges on the Cisco Network Building
Mediator. In the following examples it is assumed that the operator console has
IP address 192.0.2.1. The 192.0.2.1 address must be changed to match the IP
address used by the designated operator console. The following code must be
entered on the console. Please refer to section 2.4 in the user guide at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/physical_security/cnbm/User/guide/CNBM__UG.pdf
for information on how to connect to the serial port using hyper-terminal.

# The following rule establishes a default policy for INPUT rule chain.
# The default policy is to drop all packets unless they are explicitly
# permitted by a rule in the INPUT chain
iptables -P INPUT DROP
# This rule will allow all traffic from operator console with
# IP address of 192.0.2.1 to the Cisco NBM
#
# Change 192.0.2.1 to match IP address used by your operators console.
iptables -I INPUT 1 --source 192.0.2.1 -j ACCEPT
# Repeat the previous command if you have more than one operator console.
# Increment the number after the "INPUT" keyword for each console you
# are adding.
#
# This command will allow second operator console with IP address
# of 192.0.2.2 to access the Cisco NBM
iptables -I INPUT 2 --source 192.0.2.2 -j ACCEPT

When applying rules form the above example care must be taken to allow
access to ports or protocols that are used by sensors and other devices
deployed in the system that are monitored and controlled by the Cisco Network
Building Mediator. Failure to do so will break connectivity to these sensors
and devices.

Fixed Software

When considering software upgrades, also consult
http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt
and any subsequent advisories to determine exposure and a complete upgrade
solution.

In all cases, customers should exercise caution to be
certain the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and that current
hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by
the new release. If the information is not clear, contact the Cisco Technical
Assistance Center (TAC) or your contracted maintenance provider for assistance.

Each row of the software table below names a Mediator Framework
software release. If a given software release is vulnerable, then the earliest
possible releases that contain the fix (along with the anticipated date of
availability for each, if applicable) are listed in the "First Fixed Release"
column of the table. Cisco recommends upgrading to the latest available release
where possible. All vulnerabilities are fixed in Mediator Framework releases
listed under the "First Fixed Release" column and in the 3.1.1 release and
above.

Vulnerabilities do not affect Mediator Operating Environment.

Affected Software Releases

First Fixed Release

1.5

1.5.1.build.14-eng

2.2

2.2.1.dev.1

3.0

3.0.9.release.1

Fixed 3.1.1 and 3.0.9 Mediator Framework software can be downloaded
from the Software Center on http://www.cisco.com by visiting
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/psn/web/download/index.html
and navigating to Physical Security and Building Systems > Smart
Connected Buildings > Cisco Network Building Mediator.

Exploitation and Public Announcements

The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious
use of the vulnerabilities described in this advisory.

These vulnerabilities were discovered during internal
testing.

Cisco Security Vulnerability Policy

To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.

Revision History

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Cisco Security Vulnerability Policy

To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.